Letting Go
by QueenOfTheUniverse
Summary: Tragedy strikes when both Walker and Alex are killed right in Ranger Headquarters. This is the story of how James Trivette deals with the tragedy that tore his world apart and changed his life forever.
1. part 1

Walker, Texas Ranger: "Letting Go" part 1

A/N: The first few chapters have been edited from the original version. This story is told mostly from the POV of Trivette. Several Jimmy fans once mentioned a Trivette Texas Ranger tv show. If ever there was one, this would be it. Trivette is the main character here, struggling to deal with the loss of Alex Cahill and his best friend and partner, Cordell Walker. I also want to let you know that I know nothing of Cherokee traditions. Anything dealing with them is completely made up so don't sue if I get anything wrong! Of course, all comments are welcome, if you know something about Cherokee traditions that might help, by all means, let me know. And anything else you notice, that could use some help, let me know that too. Thank you!

Trivette's cell phone rang as he and Walker headed back to Ranger Headquarters from their quick lunch at CD's Bar and Grill.

"Trivette."

"Hi, Jimmy, it's me Alex. Is Walker there?"

"Yeah, you wanna talk to him?"

"You're on your way back here right?"

"Yup."

"Just tell him I'm waiting to talk to him at his desk. We've got a lead on the case."

"Sure thing, Alex."

From across the line Trivette heard several gun shots and Alex screamed.

"Alex! What's going on?!"

But there was no response as the phone went dead.

"Alex!"

Walker looked at his partner. "What happened?"

"I don't know. She's sitting at your desk, waiting to talk to you. And I just heard gun shots! Alex screamed and the line went dead. But she's at headquarters..."

Walker, sped up and swerved around a corner, nearly knocking Trivette into the window. While Walker drove Trivette grabbed the radio and began shouting into it, "back up needed at Ranger Headquarters! Shots fired! I repeat shots fired at Ranger Headquarters, back up needed!"

"Roger that Ranger Trivette," dispatch said.

Walker pulled up to the curb and jumped out of the truck without even turning off the engine. Trivette followed close behind as he ran into the building and tore up the stairs to the entrance of Company B. Just before they got there other Rangers and police officers who'd been out patrolling the city arrived right behind them. Everyone drew their weapons but Walker signaled them to be quiet as he listened at the door for voices.

"_What I want is Walker. You see, he's ruined my boss's business, and that's not good. So, you tell me where Walker is, and when he'll be back. There's a slight chance if you cooperate I might be nice enough to let you go," a male voice sneered._

"_Who's your boss?" Alex's voice asked. _

"_Oh, no one you need to know about right now."_

Walker shoved both double frosted glass doors open and aimed his gun, Trivette and the other officers right behind him. Walker 's searching eyes rested on Alex just as the man who'd spoken to her pulled the trigger on his gun, shooting her in the chest. He took off running. Walker fired his own weapon at the figure running away. He fell, when the bullet pierced his back. Dropping his gun, Walker ran to Alex and fell to her side.

Trivette scooped up his partner's weapon in the melee and put it in his own belt as he dealt one of the hostage takers a brutal punch with his other hand.

"Breath slow, Alex, and keep talking. GET THE PARAMEDICS IN HERE NOW!!!!" Walker yelled to anyone who would listen.

Trivette circled the two, making sure no one got near them while Walker attempted to save her life. The guy he'd punched jumped to his feet to attack the young Ranger. Trivette, thinking quickly, slid towards him, and gave him a hard side kick to his stomach, knocking him over. Another Ranger was kicked towards Trivette, and he caught him and righted him on his feet before attacking the hostage taker who'd knocked the Ranger off his feet. The man flew backward into another of the hostage takers who tripped over a body on the floor. Everyone went down in a heap.

"I NEED PARAMEDICS, NOW!!!" Walker shouted in the ensuing silence.

One of the hostage takers that had fallen to the ground grabbed a nearby gun and reached up to aim it at Walker. Trivette, scrambled to his feet, screaming for the paramedics as he dived onto the guy and knocked the weapon from his hand. He punched the guy in the face a few times until he had passed out.

The double doors banged open and paramedics ran in, their first aid kits with them. Trivette looked from them back to Walker and Alex and heard Alex whisper her last words to his partner, "It won't….work…..nothing…..will work….Walker…..I…..I love you….always…..and forever……………"

"NOOOO!!!"A single tear slid down Walker's cheek. "I love you too, Alex………."

Trivette got to his feet and ran up with the paramedics just then, but they were too late……to save both lives. He slumped down on the ground beside Walker 's body and watched them remove the bodies. Another Ranger had been killed, but everyone else was ok. As for the hostage takers, a few were dead, including the one Walker had shot, but a few were well enough to talk. Some of the other Rangers and police officers attempted to get them to give up their boss, but none opened their mouths.

Awhile later CD hurried in and found Trivette still on the floor, a blank look covering his face.

"Why Jimmy, what's wrong? They told me to get here as quick as possible, that it was urgent. What happened? Are you OK? Where's Cordell?" CD asked.

Trivette only sighed heavily and looked up at his older friend. "CD, their gone. Walker and Alex are gone!"

"What on earth do you mean? Where have they gone to? Who took them?"

"Dead. They're dead CD! Dead! Do you hear me! Dead!"

"Oh my God……" CD, having been leaning against the wall, now slid down it, to join Trivette on the floor. "Oh my God……" He saw the puddle of blood on the floor that had belonged to Alex.

They sat there together for awhile, until another Ranger helped them to their feet and told them to go home.


	2. part 2

Walker, Texas Ranger: Letting Go: Part 2

That night, CD closed the bar early and sat at a small table across from Trivette. Neither said anything. When the phone rang Trivette reached for the receiver.

"CD's Bar and Grill," he answered in a sullen voice.

"Trivette, it's Kim."

The coroner, he recognized her voice.

"Kim."

"Look, I know this is hard. But I've got some news you might want to hear."

"Such as?" Trivette turned away from CD.

"I know how Walker died, and it's not how you think."

"What do you mean? The place was a barroom brawl. There were guns going off, and regular fist fighting. How else could he have died if he wasn't shot while I wasn't watching his back?"

"Trivette, don't blame yourself. There was nothing on his body to show that he'd been shot. Or wounded in anyway. He had no bruises. No nothing."

"Then it was poison. Someone somehow poisoned him. We had lunch at CD's right before we got there."

"No. There was no evidence of poison either."

"Then what the hell killed him, Kim?!"

"The only thing I've got is a broken heart."

"What? You're joking right. Please, Kim. This is not the time..."

"No, I'm being serious. Alex was the one who was shot. And last time I knew they were not engaged."

"Engaged?" Trivette remembered the ring Walker had bought just the week before. He'd shown it to his partner to get his opinion and Trivette had been overjoyed that he was finally going to ask her to marry him, after so many years. The ring.

"She was wearing an engagement ring when I got her and she had no tan lines which shows she didn't have it very long at all."

He'd missed the ring. She'd had it on when he'd ran over with the paramedics and he'd missed it. How could he have missed the ring?

"He must have asked right then. When she was shot. Oh my God. He asked. And she said yes."

Tears slid silently down the Ranger's face as he stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry."

Trivette hung up without so much as a goodbye and sat back down with CD.

"What happened?" CD asked.

Trivette looked up at him with tears glistening in his eyes. "In the middle of the brawl, after Alex had been shot, Walker asked her to marry him. And she said yes. He didn't die of a gun shot wound Big Dog. He died of a broken heart. A broken heart. God. That's what I've got, but I'm still here."

CD sighed and looked at his hands clasped together on the table, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Cordell had a hard life Jimmy. You weren't here when Ellen died but that took something away from him. He'd asked her to marry him. It was going to be a grand wedding. And then she was killed. It killed him for years. When Alex finally showed up, the life returned to him. I was happy for him. Thought everything would be good from then on. But her passing would have been too much."

"Stop CD. Please. Just stop. I don't want to hear it."

Neither said anything for a long time, until CD spoke up.

"Someone's got to look after his horses. I'm gonna head out to the Ranch. You want to come with me?"

"No. No I can't."

✢

In his small apartment, Trivette lay on his bed, unable to sleep. ྭHis thoughts kept roaming over the past few years he had known Walker and Alex. Alex had been a wonderful friend, one of his best, as well as a great attorney. No one could match her skills at law. Whatever criminal he and Walker brought to her, she was sure to get them a good long sentence in jail. As for Walker , he had been the best partner anyone could hope to have. He'd also been the best Texas Ranger in the whole state. Together, they'd been through so much, battling the bad guys and criminals. Stupid and smart alike, they managed to bring down anyone they'd been after. He, himself, had learned a lot just from knowing the half Cherokee man. And now, it appeared that he would have to go it alone, without his partner. True the company might pair him up with another Ranger, perhaps even the new Ranger brought in to take Walker 's place. But would he accept a new partner? How could he? No one else would ever measure up to Walker. None would ever be as good. He would have to range alone. Perhaps he would learn all that Walker had known, all that Cherokee stuff. Between him and himself, he would make up his half and Walker 's half of their partnership. He would make it work. He would go talk to White Eagle in the morning. After all, someone should tell them of Walker and Alex's deaths.

✢

Late the next afternoon Trivette was on a horse, following an Indian to White Eagle's teepee, hidden deep in the wilderness away from the rest of the reservation.

"I have foreseen that you do not bring me good news Trivette," White Eagle said when the horses stopped. "Especially when you come alone, without Washo." White Eagle said nothing more, until Trivette had dismounted and stood before him. They shook hands.

"Come, you have heavy burdens. Let us take a walk while you tell me what has happened. Maybe that will help to lighten your load a bit."

Together they walked along the river bank, while Trivette told him everything that had happened the day before. White Eagle sighed heavily as they sat down on a large sloping rock, facing the river.

"Washo was a good man as Alex was a good woman. In the end, I am glad that he chose her, and that now they are together."

"White Eagle, Nothing will ease me of the pain. Knowing they will never return again. Knowing we will never have dinner at CD's again, hurts me more than you can imagine."

"Oh, I know far more than you think."

"Please, teach me the ways of the Cherokee for there is no way I can go back without that knowledge. I cannot take on another partner. It just wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't work. That is the only thing that will help me now."

"Everyone must grieve and cope in their own way and this is yours. Yes, I will teach you all that you wish to know. But for now, we go back to the reservation, for a ceremony for the dead and grieving must happen. In three days, we will start your training. In three days."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ Trivette nodded. "OK, thank you, White Eagle. Thank you very much."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Do not thank me. Thank yourself, once you have learned all that you came here to learn."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ They mounted their horses and headed back to the main part of the reservation.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Washo, never had any family, as I'm sure you well know," White Eagle said as they rode. "Therefore, it might surprise you to know that he left everything he owned, other than his horses, to you."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ Trivette stared at him. "What?! Are you sure?!"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "I'm sure."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "So, what about the horses? Where do they go?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "They come to us."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ Trivette continued to stare, in a state of shock.


	3. part 3

Walker, Texas Ranger: Letting Go: Part 3

Four days later, while Trivette sat in a sweat lodge, struggling not to run out screaming from the heat and the smoke, CD pulled into the reservation with a ྭtrailer full of horses right behind him. Another truck and trailer followed him. Four horses were unloaded from CD's trailer and one, Amigo, from the other. When Trivette finally left the sweat lodge an hour later, sweating and coughing, CD had already left, and the horses had already been let lose on the reservation. Leaning over, his hands resting on his knees as he coughed up his lungs, he suddenly felt a cold wet something-or-other on his bare shoulder. He whipped around in surprise, only to see Amigo quickly backing away from him.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Hmmm, something else you will have to learn," White Eagle said from the side.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "What do you mean?" Trivette asked, standing there, staring at Amigo.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "When something comes up behind you like that, no matter who or what it is, you shouldn't whip around fast like that. You must weigh up the situation first. Don't worry, you'll learn. It's not that hard."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ Slowly, Amigo walked back to Trivette and nudged him in the shoulder again before lowering his head. The Texas Ranger slowly reached up and scratched him behind the ears and patted his neck. He sighed a big sigh along with the horse.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "He knows what happened. He senses your loss."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ Trivette turned from the horse to face White Eagle. "What am I learning next?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Weapons. Bow and arrows, knives….."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ As they walked away, the horse began to follow them.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "What?" Trivette asked out loud, sounding a little bit annoyed.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "I think he's just looking for a little bonding. And you're the one he picked, because he knows you share the same loss that he does. You are going to need a horse of your own while you're here. I think the horse just picked you. Are you OK with this? Because both parties have to be OK with it."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ Trivette watched Amigo for a few minutes before he nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm OK with it."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ Amigo seemed to nod his head too.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Good. I think we'll wait awhile longer before we get to weapons. You've got a lot of other things that must be learned first."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Like what?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Bonding with Amigo."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Huh?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "You are going to do everything with this horse. Eat, sleep, work. This way, you will understand your horse, and you will have better communication with him. This is your horse, no other. You want to know each other inside and out so that you can accomplish anything without fail." ྭྭྭ

Trivette could only nod in answer as they walked further away from everyone else. White Eagle gave a low, quiet whistle, and within seconds a brown horse came trotting up to him. He patted the horse on the neck.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "See, eventually, you'll be able to do that. And he'll know your whistle from anyone else's."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Where are we going?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "To the bend in the river. Don't worry it's not that far."

✢

"Wait, stop here," the Indian ordered when they reached a small hut. "I'll be right back." He came out a minute later with a fishing pole and they continued on.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "A fishing pole?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Yes. You are going to go fishing with your horse."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "I am? But what about you?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "This is a time for you two to be together. No one else must be there. Ah, here we are."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ They came upon the river bank and stopped. White Eagle handed him the fishing pole.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "What do I use for bait?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "You're going to have to dig for worms."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ A look of disgust nearly covered Trivette's face before he quickly changed it to one of surprise instead.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Don't look surprised Trivette. How else do you think we caught fish before man-made bait was created?"

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Um…yeah….good point."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Alright. Stay out here as long as you feel is necessary and when you're ready come back to the main reservation. You'll find me somewhere."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ "Um…OK."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ As soon as White Eagle had left Trivette sat down with a sigh on a rock. Amigo nuzzled his shoulder. After a few minutes he got up and began to dig for worms. He'd forgotten to ask what to dig with, so he used a nearby stick and his hands. He dug and he dug, and he found no worms. Looking up into the bright afternoon sun, he realized that this was the first time he'd been able to be alone since he'd arrived at the reservation a few days ago. And suddenly, without warning, a picture flashed through his mind. A memory. Only several days old, but with such deep emotions and pain as he had never known before.

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ _Walker and Alex lying in a pool of Alex's blood on the floor, holding each other in a tight embrace. He saw the ring on Alex's finger. Both had their eyes closed. He could only stand aside and watch as paramedics attempted several times to revive both of them. Faintly in the background of his heavy breathing he could hear their "one, two, three… push…one, two, three…" But it was of no use. They were both gone. He knew it. Nothing would ever be the same again. _

While he sat in the dirt by the river, Trivette could feel his heart breaking in half, right down the center as tears welled up in his eyes and fell down his face. This wasn't supposed to happen. Neither of them were supposed to die. Walker was one of the best Texas Rangers that had ever lived and Alex was one of the best District Attorneys. His best friends. How could this have happened? He felt his body begin to shake and he couldn't stop it. He had no control over his body. Amigo lay down behind Trivette, giving him a body to lean against, and reached his head around to rest it on the Ranger's shoulder. Together, they stayed there for nearly an hour, before Trivette had calmed down.

"Thanks Amigo. I guess I really am glad you're here with me after all."

ྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭྭ Amigo snorted and stood up. Trivette went back to his digging and was surprised to find many worms in the dirt below him. He shouted with joy and excitement and pulled them out, one by one. Putting a few on the rock he picked one and stuck it to the hook at the end of the fishing pole. Casting it into the river he sat there for awhile waiting for a fish to take the bait. When nothing happened, he recast the line. Several times. All through his struggles, Amigo stood next to him, watching him the whole time. After two hours, Trivette reeled in the line, got up, and moved down the stream a bit to recast again. This time, a fish took the bait! Getting excited again he reeled it in and found a nice big trout at the end of his pole, struggling to get free. He took the fish off the line and placed it in the sun far from the water so that it couldn't escape. Casting again, he caught another fish, and another. Once he had four big fish he set his pole down beside him and lay back to watch the sun set. ྭ

✢

Walking back onto the main reservation beside Amigo, his fishing pole over one shoulder and his catch over the other, Trivette found White Eagle sitting around a small camp fire with several other natives. He stood up when he saw the Ranger and was delighted when he saw the fish.

"Nice Job, Trivette. Nice Job."

White Eagle took him a little ways away from the group he'd been sitting with and showed him how to build a small fire and to cook his fish.

✢

Several days later Trivette was up on Amigo bareback, holding a bow and arrow in his hands, getting ready to fire at a target many yards away. He aimed, and let go of the arrow, watching it slide effortlessly into the center of the target.

"That was a fine shot Jimmy! A mighty fine shot!"

Trivette turned and a smile lit up his face, for the first time in a long time, when he saw Big Dog standing there.

"Yeah! That was awesome!" Trivette exclaimed.

Then his smile turned upside down and he dismounted from Amigo.

"How're you doing Jimmy?" CD asked.

"I'm doing OK."

They stood there, staring at each other, not saying a word. Amigo leaned forward and gave Trivette a nudge on his shoulder to push him forward.

"Hey!" the Ranger exclaimed, turning to see Amigo. His smile returned a little, and he ruffled the horse's main.

"I see things are looking better," CD commented.

"Yeah, slowly."

"Aw, Jimmy. I know things are tough. Hell, they're tough at the bar too. There's nights I don't want to be there. Every night it seems like. Nights I wish all four of us could be there, laughing and having a good time. But we've got to move on. That's all."

"Big Dog. What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, that's all. I'm gettin' terribly lonely."

"Come on then, let's get you a horse and we'll go fishing."

Oddly enough, White Eagle was right there with a second horse all ready to go with her saddle and bridle already on.

"Thank ya, White Eagle. Thank ya," CD said, as the native gave him a leg up into the saddle.

"When I get out of here," Trivette began, when they were a fair distance from the reservation, "When I'm done here. I don't know yet where I'm going to go."

"Jimmy, you're a Texas Ranger. You've got work to do."

"I know that. But I've got a small apartment that I like in the middle of Dallas. And Walker just gave me his whole Ranch. I can't keep both. And Amigo here has taken a liking to me, it seems. And, not only that, I feel like I really like it out here. It's peaceful. And quiet. You know?"

"So there is some Cherokee in you after all. I knew some of that had to rub off. I just knew it. What with the way you two spent so much time together and everything..."

"CD. Stop. Please."

"Right. Sorry."

The two finally reached the river bend where Trivette had gone fishing once before. Finding a nice log to sit on, they let their horses graze a bit while they cast their lines into the water. Neither said anything for a long time.

Something tugged on Trivette's line and he jumped up from the log in excitement. CD ignored his own line and watched Trivette reel in his fishing line.

"Let's hope it's something good! I'm starving!"

"Big Dog, I've had nothing but fish for the past few days. I'm getting sick of it."

"Sorry, Jimmy. It's been awhile since I've had a good scrod sandwich on toasted bread."

"There is no scrod in this river CD!"

"Oh. So sorry. I guess my mind's playing tricks on me."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"So, what'cha got there Jimmy?"

Trivette reeled in his line faster as CD began getting even more excited. Finally the end of his line popped out of the water and they were able to see what he'd dragged in. It wasn't a fish. It was an old boot with several holes throughout.

"Great. I can see it now. Texas Ranger becomes Shoe Finder."

"That's a boot, Jimmy."

"OK, fine. Boot Finder. Whatever."

Trivette grumbled while he pulled the boot off his line and recast it into the water, intent on ignoring the old footwear.


	4. Chapter 4

WTR: Letting Go: Chapter 4

A/N: This is the last chapter to be edited from the original. Everything after this is new. I hope you enjoy and don't forget to post a review. If you read the original, let me know what you think of the changes! Some of them were done because of comments made. Thanks!

Two days after CD had been to visit, Trivette rode Amigo onto the main reservation road and was met in front of the general store by the Sheriff.

"What's goin' on?" he asked.

"Ranger Headquarters called for you. Said they need you back there as soon as possible."

"Great. Just great. They probably want me to take down Tang Swift, the biggest crime boss in Dallas. Alone. They know half of this partnership is missing. How do they expect me to go back so soon and work as if nothing's changed? Half of the amazing team is gone."

"James Trivette, do not speak so! For it is not true," a new voice spoke up.

Trivette turned in his saddle to see who had spoken, though he'd already recognized the voice.

"White Eagle," he nodded in greeting to the older Cherokee.

"Come, I have spoken to them and you do not need to go back right away. There is still work to do."

The Ranger turned Amigo around and followed White Eagle away from the more populated part of the reservation. White Eagle stopped and Amigo stopped with him.

"Give me the reigns."

"What?"

"There's no need to be worried, Trivette. Just give me the reigns."

"Who said I was afraid? I'm not afraid."

He handed them over.

"Good. Then this shouldn't be that bad. Feet out of stirrups and arms up in the air spread out."

"What is this?" Trivette asked when White Eagle took the bridle off the horse.

"You came to me. Don't ask such questions." Trivette nodded. "It's about trust. Trust in yourself, trust in the animal, and trust with others you work with. You have a dangerous job and you will be working with new people after what happened. Chances are they may be a little green to the job. But you will have to put your trust in them time and time again as they will have to do with you. First you must learn to trust yourself and the animal you ride."

White Eagle had already moved to Amigo's rear end and now the Native American slapped the horse's rump. Amigo whinnied and jumped into action, galloping away.

"Go, fly with the wind," White Eagle said as they left his side.

Two seconds later Trivette was on the ground while the horse galloped in a circle back to White Eagle.

"Are you ok?"

Trivette rolled to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I have a dangerous job, remember? I'm used to this."

"Good. Let's do it again."

"What? Again?"

The Native only shook his head and helped Trivette back into the saddle. This time Trivette stayed on for a few minutes before losing his balance and crashing back to the ground.

"I know you know how to ride, Trivette. Remeber, trust in yourself first, then Amigo. This is about balance in all things, including your trust."

Trivette got back on and as White Eagle smacked Amigo's rump he was thinking _Squeeze with knees, keep balance, I can do this. I know I can. _Amigo took off at a gallop and he stayed on. Up ahead a log loomed. _Piece of cake. I can do this. I can do this. _The horse geared up for the jump. _Go for it Amigo. We can do this. _And together they soared over the log.

"Whoa," he said, letting up on the pressure of his knees.

Amigo slowed to a walk and turned back to face the log again at the new pressure on his left side. Trivette's arms were still outstretched as he urged the horse into a gallop. Within seconds they'd flown over the log for a second time and had come to a complete stop in front of White Eagle.

"That was good Trivette."

The Ranger was grinning from ear to ear.

"You still have work to do, but you're getting there. Now, go call Ranger Headquarters and tell them you'll be there first thing Monday morning."

✢

"You'll be training two new recruits," Trivette heard the Captain of Company B saying over the phone. "They'll be here Monday morning."

"Why me? Surely there's someone who's more qualified, who's been a Ranger longer than I have."

"Because you're the best Ranger we've got."

_Right, because I was trained and partnered with the best Ranger you think I'm not the best since he's gone. You want to test me, perhaps. _Remembering White Eagle's words, however, he kept his mouth shut and didn't voice his thoughts.

He sighed, "I'll be there."

✢

Sunday night Sargent James Trivette of the Texas Rangers walked into his old apartment. It was dark inside and he didn't bother to turn on the lights. Emotions overflowed his heart. The last time he'd been here was the night Walker and Alex had died at Ranger Headquarters. Closing the door behind him he locked it and slumped down onto his couch.

He'd learned a lot out at the Cherokee Reservation, things that had seemed like they would make things better. But nothing could that quickly. It would take time, work, effort. He knew this, but coming back home he wasn't sure he wanted to even try. This place reminded him of so much it nearly broke his heart and for a moment he wondered how he was still living after everything that had happened. Walker was dead because of a broken heart. Why couldn't the same thing have happened to him? But there was a reason for everything. That's what White Eagle would have said. Thus, there was a reason he was still alive as much as he didn't want to believe it.

Slumped on the couch in the dark his eyes drooped closed. He'd begun to feel relaxed out at the Reservation until he'd gotten the call about the two new Rangers he was supposed to train. And now that he was back that feeling of relaxation was disappearing even faster than a speeding bullet. He wished there was a way he could skip work in the morning but it wasn't in him to do it. Much as he wanted to.

Slowly he began to fall asleep, even if it wasn't as sound as he'd want.

_Trivette's cell phone rang as he and Walker headed back to Ranger Headquarters from their quick lunch at CD's Bar and Grill. _

"_Trivette."_

"_Hi, Jimmy, it's me Alex. Is Walker there?"_

"_Yeah, you wanna talk to him?"_

"_You're on your way back here right?"_

"_Yup."_

"_Just tell him I'm waiting to talk to him at his desk. We've got a lead on the case."_

"_Sure thing, Alex."_

_From across the line Trivette heard several gun shots and Alex screamed._

"_Alex! What's going on?!"_

_But there was no response as the phone went dead. _

"_Alex!"_

_Walker looked at his partner. "What happened?"_

"_I don't know. She's sitting at your desk, waiting to talk to you. And I just heard gun shots! Alex screamed and the line went dead. But she's at headquarters..."_

The Ranger woke with a start, sweat beaded on his forehead. That phone call had been the last time he'd talked to Alex before she'd died. And he hadn't even known Walker had proposed to her. Trivette rolled over on the couch, too tired to consider his bed in the other room. He grumbled and blinked his eyes as he rolled back again in an attempt to get comfortable.

✢

Trivette walked into Ranger Headquarters to find Walker's desk emptied out. Someone else's family pictures and knickknacks sat on top and it unnerved him. Walker had been their best Ranger. They could have left it. It could have been a shrine. But no. Walker wouldn't go for that. And besides, if they'd done that for all the Rangers in the hall of fame he would be left sitting out in the hall on the floor, the pay phone his only means of communication.

Two people he'd never met stood in front of his own desk, not three feet from Walker's. One was a woman with long black hair. She was wearing black cowboy boots, dark jeans and a red button down shirt. The other was a man who had short dirty blond hair. He was wearing brown cowboy boots, pale jeans only a little darker than Trivette's, and a pale button down shirt. They were both sporting Ranger badges, pinned to their shirts. They had to be his new charges.

He pasted a smile onto his face and approached them with an outstretched arm.

"Sydney Cooke and Francis Gage?"

They booth nodded and shook his hand.

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you."

"Same here," Sydney said.

"So, have you been briefed on our first case?" he asked them, eager to get down to business and get off the personal track most beginning conversations usually went.

"Not really. All we were told was we were going after Tang Swift," said Gage.

"Do you know why?"

"Wasn't mentioned. Captain said we'd here it all from you."

Trivette sighed and sat down behind his desk, putting his head in his hands for a moment before looking up at the new Rangers.

"Which one of you got that desk there?" Trivette pointed toward Walker's desk.

Sydney raised her hand, "That would be me, Sir."

"Yeah, I'm on your other side," Gage pointed to a nearly empty desk behind Trivette's computer monitor. Sydney elbowed Gage in the ribs. He added "Sir" to the end of his statement, in a half cough, as if he hadn't meant to forget it.

"Don't call me Sir. I hate that. I'm not the top cheese here. That's the Captain. Trivette will work just fine." He looked at Sydney. "What do you know about the Ranger who had that desk before you?"

"Ummmm...I'm sorry...but nothing."

"That was my partner's desk until a few weeks ago when he died saving his fiance's life. She was a good friend of mine too. They both died that day."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I wish I'd known."

"Yeah, me too. I'm sorry."

"It was Tang Swift's idea," Trivette continued as if they hadn't said anything. "Take over Ranger Headquarters and kill the ADA to get back at his worst enemy, my partner Cordell Walker. I've been trying to get over it since then. When the Captain called me to say I would be working with you I didn't want to come back. I still don't want to be here. But my life must carry on and I won't let it leave me behind. I'll do my best for you guys but I want you to know I can't promise anything."

"That's understandable."

Gage nodded.

"What I can promise, however, is that we're going to bring down Tang Swift. No one takes out my partner, another good Ranger, and the ADA and gets away with it."

"We promise to do our best," Gage said.

"Good. That's what I want to hear.

Seconds later CD walked in and marched over to Trivette's desk.

"There you are Jimmy! I've been looking all over for you. You've kept these two waiting for hours!"

"It's ok," Sydney did her best to calm the older man down. "And it wasn't hours, Ranger Parker."

"CD! How many times have I told you to call me CD?! And at least it felt like hours." CD sighed. "Jimmy, Amigo is back out at the ranch. I'll be there to help you move in when you get off work, ok?"

"Sure, Big Dog."

"You got this situation all under control here?" CD looked from Gage and Sydney back to Trivette.

"Yes, we're fine," Trivette said a little icily.

CD left and Sydney gave Gage a wide eyed look.

"Now look," Trivette said. "When I say we're going after Tang Swift, I mean, we're going after Tang Swift. I don't want to stop at some middleman along the way, or even his top seller. I want Tang Swift. Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"Good. Now, he's an arms dealer so I suggest we start at the bottom. Find out who we've got in prison who's related to him. Find out what and who they know. We'll start taking down each business one by one until he's pissed enough to come after us. Then we'll get him."

"You got it."

Sydney and Gage went to their respective desks to start the search. Trivette looked at his watch and got up.

"Can you guys handle this without me for a bit? There's someone I need to see."

"Yeah sure, no problem."

"Call me when you get something solid."


	5. Chapter 5

WTR: Letting Go: Chapter 5

A/N: First new chapter in a long time, I'm sorry! Please let me know what you think and I promise to update again soon! Before the week runs out!

Pulling up at Dallas Rhodes Cemetery moments later James Trivette parked his old Mustang beside a small sedan on the grass and got out. He walked up the small hill that over looked the cemetery. He remembered the three day ceremony held out at the reservation not that long ago. The two graves sat side by side a few rows away. Someone was standing in front of one. An older man with thinning white hair. Tears were falling from his eyes.

"Mr. Cahill?"

Trivette moved to stand beside him.

"James. My God. Can you believe I missed my own daughter's funeral? I didn't know...until yesterday. I flew out as soon as I heard."

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Cahill. I should have called but everything..."

"No. I understand. It's ok."

_No. You don't understand. I RAN AWAY. I ran away. But I won't do it again._

"He proposed to her, right before she died. I didn't know if you knew."

"He did? Walker? Ranger Cordell Walker?"

"Yes. And she'd accepted. There was a ring..."

"So she was happy then...at the end..." Fresh tears sprang to her father's eyes.

"Yes. The coroner, she said the only explanation for Walker's death was a broken heart when she died." He paused for a moment. "You're not the only one who missed the funeral. She was so young, had so much ahead of her, you know? I couldn't go. I just couldn't bring myself to come back for the funeral."

There was a long pause and neither of them said anything. Trivette knew he had to get back to work. He had charges to look after.

"Don't worry, we're doing all we can to catch the man who did this to both of them."

Alex's father looked up at Trivette. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

Trivette looked at his partner's grave. _I'll get them Walker. I promise. I won't let you down._

An oddly familiar voice came to his ears through the breeze ruffling the leaves from the nearby trees. It whispered something almost inaudible but he managed to catch it, _I know you won't. _

Looking around them without alarming Alex's father, the Ranger sought out the person from whom the voice had come, but found no one else there.

✢

Back at Ranger Headquarters Sydney and Gage already had information piling up by the time Trivette got back half an hour later.

"What have you got for me?" Trivette said, slowly beginning the uphill climb back to his old self.

Gage got up and went to stand by Sydney's desk with papers in his hands.

"We've got lots actually," Sydney said with a smile.

"Yeah, turns out there's a drug dealer in luck up named Vinny. Now, he bought a gun from another guy goes by the name of T-Bone."

"Right," Sydney took over. "And T-Bone is a seller for Tang Swift. But the funny part is, Vinny bought the gun because someone was roughing him up a little for some reason. Didn't say why. But the guy doing the roughing up was called Crack Shot and he worked for Swift."

"Good catch guys. Let's get tracking these leads.

✢

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Sydney said in the passenger seat of Gage's car as they drove through Dallas.

"What? You look like a nice hooker."

"Right." She gave him a dark look.

"In need of a bad fix...I should add."

"I could take that in several ways, Gage. But I'm going to assume you're only referring to this mission and why I'm dressed in this gettup."

"Um...yeah, yeah, I was."

She gave him another dark look as he pulled up to the curb of an old apartment neighborhood. She got out wearing a black faux leather mini skirt, spike heeled knee-high boots and a very low cut red lacy tank top. Her make up consisted of bright red lipstick and really bad eye-liner that looked as if she'd slept with it on a few nights. She was dressed as if she was a hooker...in need of a fix.

"Just get me my 'fix' by the time I get back. Ok Gage?"

"What ever you say Syd."

She slammed the door and began to walk away down the street. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her partner pull away.

"Ok, can you hear me?" she whispered.

"Loud and clear," Gage's voice came into her ear.

✢

Hours later Sydney sank onto a bench with a heavy sigh. "I've been walking for hours Gage. And there's nothing out there. No one knows anything. My feet are killing me."

"I'm sorry, Syd. Wish I could give you a nice foot rub. But I can't."

"Ewww. Stay away from my feet."

"If you say so."

"Yes, I do."

An older woman walked by and gave her an odd look.

"See, now I'm talking to myself. I just need to score some stuff and I won't hear voices in my head again," she pleaded.

The woman just ignored her and walked away. Sydney groaned and got back up on her feet again.

Gage laughed. "Go get your fix. I'm moving to a new location."

Night fell and Sydney was still wandering around the old apartment neighborhood, doing her best to avoid stepping on old soda cans in her spiked heels. She had no flashlight and half of the street lamps were out, making it more difficult to see. In her tiredness and in walking in shoes she wasn't used to, she now truly looked like the hooker in need of a bad fix, the way she was supposed to. She looked awful.

She landed on another empty bench and began to unzip her boots. She'd pulled off one and was about to tell Gage to pick her up when a dark car pulled up to the curb and a man in a suit got out and walked over to her, his hands in his pockets.

"I hear you're lookin' to score a fix, lookin' for Vinny."

"You seen him?"

"What're you on Babe?"

"Whatever he's got. Unless you got somethin'?"

"Naw, Babe. I don't sell that crap. And last I heard he got arrested."

"Oh, please don't tell me that!" Syd whined.

✢

"Have you heard back from those two yet?" CD asked later that night when Trivette arrived at the ranch with a carload of his stuff.

"Last time I talked to Gage someone picked Syd up. Possibly T-Bone but he wasn't sure. Said he'd call my cell when something new came up."

"I'm worried about them. They're new and all. I don't like the idea of them going undercover so soon like that. They might not come back."

Trivette began to trundle boxes of his belongings from his car to the porch.

"Would you give them and me a break?! They'll be fine. It's not like they haven't been cops before. And they did make it into the Rangers, CD."

"Yeah, because two fine Rangers died in the heat of battle. They picked the best of the lot they had to work with."

Trivette remembered his thoughts from earlier that day about leaving Walker's desk as a shrine to the amazing Ranger. He put down a heavy box on the porch and stopped to look at CD."Listen to you! Just because two Rangers died trying to save lives you think there is no one qualified to fill their places? Huh? Is that what you think? Was Walker not good enough when the Ranger before him retired? Hell, if that's the case none of us are qualified, even you, because none of us equal the first Texas Rangers."

CD heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry Jimmy. Forgive me. I don't know what I was saying."

"I'm having a hard time letting go too, Big Dog. It's not easy. But White Eagle would say, if he were here, that there is a time for grieving and a time for moving on. Now is the time for moving on."

"My God, Jimmy. You sound just like him!"

"Who?"

"Cordell."

"Look, CD, I'm gonna leave these boxes on the porch. They should be fine until I get back."

"You going to get more stuff? Take my truck. You can fit more in it."

"No. I'm going for a ride."

"Oh. Ok. You want company?

"No."

"I'm cooking chili. It should be ready in about two hours."

"I'll be back by then."

Trivette turned and headed for the barn. Inside he found CD's horse, Dallas, already at home in the stall beside Amigo. Upon entering the barn Amigo got excited and gave a loud whinny, stamping his foot. Trivette gave a quick hello to Dallas before throwing his arms around Amigo like a young boy getting his first horse on his birthday.

✢

"You live in a warehouse?" Sydney asked more for Gage's benefit than hers as she followed T-Bone inside.

"Yup. My work is 24 hours Baby. I catch sleep when I can."

"Sounds tiring."

"But worth it. When I retire I'll be a rich man. I can fix you up Honey and you can come with me. Tropical island paradise."

Syd stumbled after him and whined, "I just need my fix. That's all. Can you give me something? At least a little weed? Please?"

"Sorry Babe. Don't got any."

"Oh."

"What's you're name anyway? I'm not sure I caught it?"

"Jenna...I'm Jenna." She stuck out her hand in a wild fashion. "But you can call me Heroin."

Gage snorted into her ear.

"Nice. Nice. Real nice," T-Bone smiled.

Around the corner from the warehouse, Gage sat in his tan unmarked Ford listening in on the conversation.

"Here's my crib Baby Doll," came T-Bone's voice across the wire.

"Oh, it's nice!" Sydney sounded like a junkie in worse need for her fix, her cover still in tact. "Oh, and that bed...so comfortable...let me try it out. I try mattresses for a living."

"Do you know?"

The sound of someone landing hard on a bed came through followed shortly after by the sound of light snoring.

"Baby? Honey? Jenna?"


	6. Chapter 6

WTR: Letting Go: Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for the great comments so far! I'm sorry Walker's death is still hard to understand. I thought I'd corrected that with Kim's convo with Jimmy but I guess not. Basically, grief overwhelmed him when Alex died and his heart just stopped beating. Nothing more than that. Hope that helps. I'll see about fixing up that convo a little bit to make it clearer. Anyway, here's chapter 6, hope you enjoy and don't forget to post comments! I know a lot of you haven't posted one yet and I love to hear from my readers! Thanks guys!

✢

When T-Bone got no response from Sydney he sighed, "Sleep well then, Baby. We can always have our fun later. I should check up on the boys anyway. Make sure they aren't doing something stupid again."

Gage heard a door slam shut and then nothing.

"Syd! Syd, are you alright?"

"I'm sleeping here," Sydney mumbled. "Go away."

"Syd, you can't sleep now!"

"I'm so tired. Didn't you hear me?"

Changing his tactic he said, "So you test mattresses for a living huh? Since when?"

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Look, I'm tired. Ok?"

"But you can't be. You're undercover."

"Have you ever spent all day on your feet in spiked heels?"

"Um, no. Can't say that I have."

"Well, we'll just have to get you some so you can try it. Then you'll know how I feel."

"Syd..."

"Now, I'm having a nice dream about Gage going away. I wonder why I always talk in my sleep? Wake me in half an hour, will ya?"

Syd went silent and nothing Gage could say would make her talk to him. Soon he heard the slow breathing of his partner sound asleep and all he could do was listen to make sure T-Bone didn't come back before she woke up.

✢

Trivette had no clue what was all included on Walker's property, but he knew there was a river that ran through it somewhere along with vast fields for the horses and at least part of a large forest. He'd seen a map in the house once, a few years back, but he didn't know exactly where it was and nor did he care right at this moment. He just needed to get out and enjoy the fresh air with Amigo, to calm down from the day and relax in this amazing oasis of land.

It felt good to be able to leave everything behind. All he had with him now were his thoughts and he could direct them to go anywhere he wanted. Right now, he chose to think about nothing except this wonderful place. The animals of the day had already bedded down for the night and the animals of the night were just coming out. In the distance he could hear an owl hooting and that could have been a bat that had just flown by his head.

Trivette sighed contentedly and let Amigo take him wherever he wanted to go. They were on a long path leading through dense trees. He didn't know where they were going but he knew from his days on the reservation that Amigo knew his way around and knew his way back to the barn. He himself, however, would have to find that map soon and study it so that he could find his way around just in case.

"Trivit." The name caught him off guard. He hadn't wanted to think about anything else, let alone something like that. It had been years since he'd heard it. And he remembered swimming laps in the local pool when CD had introduced him to his new partner for the first time, Cordell Walker. He'd called him Trivit throughout their entire first case. Treated him like a charge he didn't want to deal with. Walker had liked working alone and saw Trivette as a hindrance rather than a great help. In the beginning anyway.

And then it hit him. Sydney Cooke and Francis Gage were his charges. He hadn't wanted to be forced to look after them like they were children. He'd wanted to be alone, to deal with things that had happened in life's own slow course. But slow, was too slow. He couldn't treat them like they were charges. Like he'd already told CD, they were cops before they became Rangers. And they did make it to the Texas Rangers. They were qualified. Over qualified in fact, when he'd read both their records earlier. They were like him when he'd first started. Both had done several successful undercover sting ops and had busted some pretty big boys. They could handle themselves quite well. They were not five year old charges, they were cops. Texas Rangers. And they were helping him to take down the biggest arms dealer in Dallas. Something he knew he could never have done alone.

✢

Sydney sat up in bed and unzipped her knee-high spiked boots revealing ankle length rainbow striped socks.

"I'm taking my boots off so I can be quiet around here. You got my cowboys in the car?" she whispered to Gage.

"You're up?! You're awake?! You told me half an hour. You've still got five minutes."

"Look who's talking now. Don't you ever need five minutes to fully wake up every morning?"

"No. I need more like half an hour."

"Of course you would. You got my cowboys?"

"Yeah, they're right here."

"Good. My feet will thank you later."

"I thought you didn't want me anywhere near your feet?"

She ignored his last comment. "I'm gonna take a look around. I'll let you know what I find out."

Syd slipped out of T-Bone's crib and around some large crates. Seeing no one around she grabbed a hammer from the concrete floor and pried the lid off ever so gently. Inside she found several AK-47s and other large weaponry she didn't know the names of. She put the lid back on and kept the hammer as a possible weapon.

"We've got guns," she whispered to Gage.

"What kind?"

She told him all she knew.

"I'll call Trivette, we can take them down tonight."

"Not yet. Give me time to scope out more of this place. Now that T-Bone thinks I'm fast asleep, he won't suspect a thing."

Walking carefully around another several crates she found the edge of the floor she was on. She looked down through the bars of the railing to the first floor below her and saw several men, T-Bone among them. They were all suited up for a business transaction and one of the men had a briefcase with him. The grey bearded man handed it to T-Bone who opened it and surveyed the money. He nodded and gave a wide grin.

"Crack Shot, go get the goods," he said, nodding to one of his associates, dressed in sad jeans but with a somewhat nice looking blue blazer over a t-shirt who came out of the shadows. He nodded at his boss and disappeared again.

"Gage, we got a deal going down!"

Among the other shadows she could now see more of T-Bone's men, shabbily dressed, but heavily armed, ready to take down opposition should a fight ensue.

"What're they dealing?" Gage asked.

"I don't know. Crack Shot's getting it now. Probably more guns and weaponry. Get Trivette. We need backup. We can take them all down here, buyers and sellers. That'll be sure to tick off Tang Swift."

"Right. Calling him now."

"Ah, and what do you think you're doing? You're not supposed to be out here, Missy."

Sydney looked up and saw Crack Shot standing over her, his hands on a crate as if he'd been about to take it down to the buyer downstairs.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm...um...well, my name's Jenna...I'm with T-Bone, he left me to sleep, and I was just looking for him."

"I know who you are, Missy. But T-Bone never told you his name."

"He didn't? How would you know?"

"He never tells any of his girls."

"Well, I'm not one of his girls. I work alone."

Syd slowly got to her feet and began backing away.

"Sure you do. You're his now."

"Say, Why did he call you Crack Shot before?" the voice of the ditz needing her fix came back sure as ever.

He pulled a large hand gun from the back of his pants and aimed it at her.

"Right. Because you have a loud gun. I get it."

"I like loud guns. Makes me feel better when I blow people's heads off. Especially nosy girls who don't belong where they are. Now I'm gonna have to call T-Bone up here since you're his girl and he's in the middle of a deal. He'll be mighty pissed. Might even kill you himself."


	7. Chapter 7

WTR: Letting Go: Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry it took me a few days to get this chapter up. Life got in the way, as I'm sure you all can relate. In case you miss it, or in case you want to look for it, there's a little something in here that I "borrowed" from the Lord of the Rings, Two Towers. I'm hoping it's as funny as it was in the movie. Well, anyway, without further ado, here's chapter 7! Enjoy, and don't forget to post comments!

✢

Crack Shot grabbed Sydney's arm in a harsh grip.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," she said a little warning to her voice.

"Sorry. I gotta make sure you don't runaway."

"No, I meant, I really wish you wouldn't do that," she said again, more warning in her voice this time.

"And why's that?"

"Cause now I've gotta knock you out and I hate fighting in my bare feet," she whined.

Crack Shot looked down at her feet. "But you've got socks on," he commented.

"Hmm, so I have."

Syd punched him in the head to get him a few feet away from her before she side kicked him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. She grinned, "that wasn't so bad after all."

Crack Shot groaned and lay still.

"Hey, you ok?" Gage snuck out of another room and came up to Syd behind the boxes, out of everyone else's view.

"Gage?! What are you doing here? I had him covered!" she whispered.

"I heard a fight about to start. Figured you could use some help. So that's Crack Shot?"

He pointed to the fallen man.

"Yeah, that's him."

"Not very good looking, is he?"

"You're a guy, like you would know."

"Oh, so you think he's good looking?! He's a criminal!"

"I didn't say he was! And for your information criminals can be good looking too."

"Crack Shot! What's taking so long?" T-Bone's voice almost echoed throughout the building.

✢

"Your cell phone rang while you were out," CD informed Trivette when he'd gotten back to the ranch after putting Amigo up for the night.

He went back out on the porch where he'd left the phone on one of the boxes from his car earlier. There was a voice mail from Gage. Sydney was in trouble. He dashed to his car, dialing Gage's number as he threw the car in reverse.

CD came out of the house looking lost, "but the chilli's almost ready..."

Gage picked up," Trivette! We need you at the warehouse on Grant! Called backup...seven Syd...but they're taking too long." As he spoke Trivette could hear fighting going on as well as Gage's labored breathing. "Take that you ugly gang banger!" Gage shouted.

"I'm on my way!" Trivette hung up and hit the gas peddle.

CD was right. That was all he could think of. Their first case, first day on the job, he sent them undercover and now they were in trouble. What had he been thinking?! CD was right. It was too soon. Way too soon, and if they lost them, it would all be his fault...like maybe if he'd gotten to Walker's side a few minutes sooner, he'd still be alive now...Maybe if he could have saved Alex somehow...

✢

At the warehouse Gage was knocking criminals left and right as he stood back to back with Syd.

"You didn't have to come rescue me, ya know. Nine," she punched another of T-Bone's gang members. "I can take care of myself."

"Ten," Gage said, front kicking a guy between his legs.

"Owwwww!"

The man doubled over before he had a chance to use his gun.

"Well, I thought since your feet hurt so much...eleven...in those heels..."

"Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen. You're losing your touch Gage. I'm ahead of you."

"Fourteen, fifteen, now Syd..."

"Cheater. Fourteen."

Another man went down before her hands.

"So, when is this backup of yours coming? I've got four...three left over here."

"Soon, I hope. Got five left."

"You need a break. You're breathing hard. I'll handle them."

"Gee thanks. But I've got it."

The main door burst open below them and cops burst in, guns at the ready. Shocked, the eight left fighting Gage and Sydney stopped and stared dumbly. The two Rangers had them all subdued within seconds as Trivette came in behind the last of the cops.

"You two ok?" the first cop asked when he got up the stairs.

"Yeah, you could have come a little sooner though."

"Sorry. Traffic was bad."

"Gage!" Trivette yelled, seeing the Ranger, as he ran up the stairs, two at a time. "You two ok?!"

"Yeah, we're fine," Syd replied as the criminals were dragged away all around them. "Let me get my boots before we leave."

Trivette seemed to see Syd's outfit for the first time. His eyes went wide as she walked back to T-Bone's crib.

"It worked, didn't it?" Gage said, looking at Trivette.

"Right. Yeah. Sure."

✢

Sydney had changed back into her black jeans, red button down shirt, and brown cowboy boots before she entered the interrogation room. T-Bone sat at the table in his new orange jumpsuit issued to him by the wonderful state of Texas.

"Hey, Baby, what happened to that skirt? You looked so much better in that skirt," he said seductively, in a very suggestive manner.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear a word you just said."

She looked from him to Gage standing at the other end of the table to the one way window where she knew Trivette to be on the other side, watching their interrogation to see how they did.

"So, T-Bone, that can't possibly be the name your mother gave you. So, what's the name she gave you?" Gage asked.

T-Bone just crossed his arms and stared at the table.

"Look, T-Bone," Syd tried. "You were dealing arms. We caught you, and your buyer. Now, why don't you tell us who you're working for."

T-Bone said nothing.

"So, you're going to rot in prison for your boss? Take the rap for him? If you talk, we could maybe cut you a deal. But if you don't talk, no deal."

"I liked you better when you were needing a fix...you were sexy...we coulda had something there..."

"Shut up. Guard, take him back to his cell."

Trivette came in a few minutes later when T-Bone was gone.

"So, no one's talking. Not T-Bone, not Crack Shot, or the buyer. We need real names on these guys but they're unwilling to talk, and of course they're not in the system under their real names," Trivette sighed. "This just gets better and better." He paused for a moment then looked over at the two Rangers. "Look guys, I'm sorry about all this."

"About what?" Syd asked.

"About putting you undercover today, on your first day and all. I shouldn't have. It was a bad move on my part. We could have lost you, and I couldn't take that after what's already happened."

"Look, Trivette, don't worry about it," Syd said. "We knew what we were getting into coming into this job. And it's not like neither of us has gone undercover before. I mean, I spent nearly a month in the mob back in Chicago working for the regular PD. So don't worry about it."

"Yeah, and I spent two months doing this thing in California."

Sydney elbowed Gage. "Stop trying to one up me! You know that's not true!"

"Ok, ok. So, maybe it was only a week in California, LA actually, but still...I was undercover and I did catch the guys!"

"Right. Were they not paying their library fines or returning their books?"

"You know, we coulda been friends Syd."


	8. Chapter 8

WTR: Letting Go: Chapter 8

A/N: I have the perfect ending that I know you're all going to LOVE planned out a little bit. The problem is getting there. I have no clue what's going to happen between now and then. This is writing on the fly as I'm writing every other chapter along with every other chapter of another story for another show at the same time. So, in the end, we'll see what happens. Let me know if you like how this is going or not. You know I always appreciate comments and they do help me write more when I know people are waiting for more...Anyway, enjoy!

✢

"Guys, you haven't had dinner yet. Why don't you come out to the ranch. CD's made chilli for dinner and he makes the best chilli. You can't not have his chilli, and it's the least I could do," Trivette offered.

"Yeah, that sounds wonderful, I'm starving!" Gage said as his stomach rumbled in agreement.

"Well, it's settled then," Syd nodded. "I haven't had chilli in ages. Let's go!"

✢

Arriving at Walker's ranch CD was there on the porch to greet them.

"I'm glad you called, Jimmy. I got the dinning room table all set. Ya'll ready to eat?"

Getting out of Gage's car behind Trivette's Mustang both Gage and Sydney said they were starving once again and ready to dig in.

"So, how did it go?" CD asked. "You tore outa here faster than a speeding bullet without so much as a goodbye," he looked at all of them and then at Trivette.

"I'm sorry about that. I got a call that Syd was in trouble. I didn't have time to explain."

"Thanks!" Sydney said in a sarcastic tone to her partner. "I was not in trouble. I told you I could easily handle those guys. And what do you do? You call him and tell him I'm in trouble. Great."

"I'm sorry Syd! How was I supposed to know you'd be ok? You didn't tell me. And it's not like we've worked together for long."

"You're right. I'll forgive you. This time."

"Thank you."

"Oh, CD, this chilli is amazing!" she commented.

"Why thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!" CD beamed for the first time since Walker and Alex's death.

"Yeah, this stuff's great! I might need the recipe at home," Gage said, putting on a pouting face to try and win CD's heart.

"Oh no," Trivette shook his head. "CD doesn't give out the recipe to anyone. He's been winning chilli contests with it for years. I don't even know what goes into this!"

Everyone laughed.

"So, you got the guys you were going after?"

"Yeah, we got em'," Syd said between mouthfuls of CD's famous chilli. "They're not talking though. I don't know how we're going to get any information out of them."

"You're looking for Tang Swift, right? The guy who did...well, you know..." CD sounded tired all of a sudden as well as sad and agitated.

"Yeah."

"I know a guy few years ago used to work for him selling arms. Don't know if he still does, but if he isn't, then he isn't alive anymore."

"Where's he located?"

"Over on the east side of the city. Up near Wolf Pack territory."

"Wolf Pack?" Syd questioned.

"Yeah, it's one of the worst gangs in the city," Trivette clarified. "They kill for fun, have the highest body count of any gang in the city and they're hard to catch because though we know they're killing people, there are never any witnesses. Everything is clean cut, they're in, they're out, no trace left behind. It's like they never existed."

"Great. He probably sells to them I bet."

"Of course. They're his greatest buyers."

"So, what name does he go by?"

"Jet Black."

"Great. Another one."

"I believe he legally changed his original name to Jet Black on purpose. He likes to try to be professional. He keeps records of things he shouldn't..."

"So, why's he out and about when you know where he is?"

"He keeps getting off on technicalities. Alex hated it so much. She threw a fit once over it and Walker had to restrain her for a moment."

"Wow."

"Yeah. She was the best ADA I've ever met..." Trivette trailed off and the group became silent.

✢

Early the next morning three hours before he had to leave for work Trivette saddled Amigo in what he hoped would become a morning ritual of a long ride around the ranch. CD wasn't even up yet and Trivette had already eaten breakfast.

Out in the middle of the ranch where no one could interrupt a quiet talk with his horse Trivette began to talk to him, the one being who had no opinions to thrust on him. The one being who could only listen intently and be there for him when he needed him most. They had both lost Walker, and as much as Trivette felt it everyday he knew Amigo felt it too. Perhaps he felt it through Trivette as the horse carried him over the grasslands and towards the wooded area, or perhaps he had known the moment it had happened. Trivette was glad he had the horse. Thinking about it made tears come to his eyes, but he was happy too. He could have lost Amigo at the same time. Walker's heart had stopped beating when Alex died. And with the bond between the Ranger and his horse, the same thing could have happened to Amigo. But Trivette had needed the horse, and maybe Amigo had sensed that and had stayed in this world for that reason. Maybe.

"Don't worry boy, we'll get Swift for this," he patted Amigo's neck. "It won't stop the pain, nothing can ever do that, but at least we'll get him behind bars. Or worse."

Amigo's ears flicked back as if he sensed something wrong nearby. He stopped walking even though Trivette hadn't told him to and stood silently listening to the sounds around them, ears flicking back and forth.

"What's going on? Amigo?" Trivette urged the horse forward but he refused to move.

"That sounded like a threat, Ranger," an unknown voice came from the foliage at Trivette's right.

Amigo's ears flicked back in anger at the voice and he backed away, snorting.

"Who's there?" Trivette called out.

An engine roared to life and two men in a green open air jeep came out of the trees behind the horse and rider. Amigo tried to turn to face them but they were faster, jumping out of the vehicle, one with a sledge hammer who threw it at an unsuspecting Trivette. When the Ranger fell to the ground Amigo reared and snorted, doing his best to keep the two men away from him but to no avail. They got to the unconscious Trivette and hauled him into the back of the jeep, taking off as one of the men tied his hands and feet together.

Amigo valiantly galloped after them but at the edge of the property a tall fence stopped him when they opened a gate, drove through, and closed it before the horse could catch up. Amigo was left whinnying and dancing around, agitated that he'd failed to get Trivette back.

✢

"Where's Trivette?" Sydney asked later that morning at Ranger Headquarters. "He's late. Why would he be late? This case means a lot to him."

"I don't know," Gage responded. "I tried his cell phone and got nothing."

"CD's still out at the ranch, right? He doesn't open the bar up for awhile. Do you have the number? He might know what's going on."

"Right." Gage dialed the number and felt relief wash over him when the older Ranger picked up the phone. "CD, glad to hear you're still there. Trivette hasn't come in yet. We were wondering what's going on?" He listened to CD's story before he hung up. "We're on our own," he sighed. "Trivette's missing."

"What? What do you mean?"

"He's not at the ranch, but his car's still there. Amigo was loose, saddled and everything. But Trivette's no where to be seen. So, we know what we need to do. Most likely it was Tang Swift who took him. I suggest we get going."

"Right. Finding Jet Black. As long as I don't have to be a hooker again."


	9. Chapter 9

Walker Texas Ranger: Letting Go: chapter 9

A/N: I just want to warn you all that this story will end up a lot shorter than originally planned. My goal is to have it done by the end of the month as I've been working on this for several years. Right now I've got one chapter left, maybe two. It shouldn't have taken this long to finish, and I'm sorry about that. I hope you all enjoy it and post lots of comments, even in its shorter form, since it was meant to be much longer. Enjoy, and here's chapter 9!

✢

Trivette opened his eyes, feeling groggy as if he'd just woken up from a long night's deep sleep, except that he had a splitting headache. His stomach turned over and he was afraid his breakfast would make a second appearance in his day, but it didn't. His hands were being held above his head, something digging into his wrists.

As soon as his eyes cleared and the pain in his head dulled a little he looked around to see where he was. Bales of hay were stacked in the corner to his right. Tack hung on unpainted wooden walls and several horses poked their heads out of stalls. However, none of them resembled Amigo as they were all brown. One horse at the end was black and looked larger than all the others. Snorting in Trivette's direction he didn't look too happy.

"Ahem," a man grunted nearby.

Looking down, Trivette saw a scruffy man in a dirty white t-shirt, jeans, and work boots sitting lazily in a metal folding chair in front of him, a large gun across his lap.

Trivette kept his mouth shut as the man grinned and called out, "He's come to!"

A screen door slammed somewhere behind him and a loud gruff voice came to his ears, "Well, is that so? You took a long time to wake up, Ranger Trivette."

He could feel the hot sun on his back that hadn't been as bright or as hot last time he knew.

"What time is it?" he asked, surprised at how scratchy his voice sounded.

Tang Swift came around to face Trivette, a slightly heavyset man in khaki pants, a navy blue button down shirt and black cowboy boots. His hair was a pale brown and thinning on the top.

"Oh, it's about noon now. I bet you're hungry. Maybe even thirsty?"

Trivette thought about that. Noon. And last time he'd checked his watch he wasn't due at work for at least two hours...which meant that he'd been out of it for about six hours! His stomach rumbled and his tongue felt thick, his mouth dry as the Sahara Desert.

"I thought so," Tang Swift continued. "But I'm sorry. You don't get anything. Why bother feeding you, wasting my own good food, when you're gonna die soon? Does that make sense to you?"

Trivette made no move to speak as he eyed the man carefully. If one didn't know any better they'd think he was a nice aging grandfather with a boatload of grandchildren just begging him to read them stories at bedtime. But Trivette knew different. This was the top crime boss in the whole city of Dallas. This was Tang Swift.

"Well? Doesn't that make sense to you?" Tang asked again, fully expecting an answer out of the Ranger.

Trivette shook his head, but still didn't speak.

"Sure! Of course it makes no sense. And you do realize how much sense it makes for me to kill you, right? I mean, if I don't kill you, you'll arrest me and my men and my business will suffer. If I kill you now, deal with you, here and now, my business can flourish once again and I'll be the richest man alive after all my hard work. Yes, Ranger Trivette, after the little stunt you pulled the other day with that little skanky whore of yours, I had to pause several of my main operations until things cool down a bit. And with you gone, things will cool down. You know, Walker died, leaving everything to you. You can't handle it either or else I'd be in jail already. And since you can't handle it, you're gonna die too, leaving everything to me. I'd say Walker's plans backfired. Big time."

Tang Swift stopped talking and watched Trivette struggle to breath through his dry mouth in the hot sun. After a few minutes he began again, "Ranger, I'm gonna give you until tomorrow, noon time. Then the fun begins."

"What fun?" Trivette asked.

The scruffy guy appeared with a bottle of beer and he laughed when he heard the question before taking a long swig of his beer.

"Oh, the torture of course. What? You didn't think I'd let you off easy did you? One bullet to the brain?" Tang laughed. "Now where would the fun in that be? Naw, you'll most likely last about a week at the most with what I've got planned for you."

Tang Swift brought a cool branding iron up to Trivette's eyesight. The Ranger's eyes suddenly bulged, at the thought of what Tang Swift was going to do.

The man laughed again. "I see you like my plan! Good boy! Well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow then."

Tang Swift walked off, leaving Trivette to hang by his wrists. Even the scruffy guy had walked away with his beer. The Ranger was alone.

"_The Brandin' iron helped win the west,"_ he heard his friend, CD Parker say years ago.

Sure, it won the west, according to CD. But it was not going to win Texas Ranger James Trivette. Not as long as he could help it. He just had to figure a way out of this in less than 24 hours.

✢

In the dark of night Gage and Sydney got out of a black and white police cruiser and walked the several blocks to the Wolf Pack territory. Both were wearing black jeans, sneakers, and black hoodies with the red wolf insignia on the front. Their faces were obscured by the hoods that covered their heads.

"This is a hell of a lot better than being a drugged out whore," Sydney commented under her breath.

"Hey, I thought you were kinda cute!"

"If we weren't on a mission right now, I'd kick your ass. In fact, remind me to do that when we get back."

"Ok, ok, forget I said anything."

"Ok, Ice Cold, LemonLime, we're in position," a voice said over their radios.

"Roger that," Syd said, sneaking a peak around the corner of a building.

When no one was visible she darted forward with Gage right behind her.

"So, which one am I? LemonLime? Or Ice Cold?"

"I'm LemonLime, you idiot! You're Ice Cold."

"Oh, right. Got it."

Syd gave an exasperated sigh. "Just shut up. I don't want to run into anyone with you blabbering on about things."

Gage took the hint and shut up as they kept a careful eye out for Wolf Pack members. Sydney was a little wary of the mission. Sure they had Black and Whites stationed around the Pack perimeter, but that wouldn't ensure that they'd find what they were there for. If they didn't find Jet Black before the morning, they would have to assimilate into the gang, and she wasn't sure that would happen easily. They weren't young enough to fit in, they would stick out like sore thumbs. She could only hope they would find Jet Black soon.

"Syd, I hear something," Gage whispered.

They stopped and listened. Sydney heard it too. Voices, lots of voices. And...something else...shuffling, scuffing...feet on pavement...someone was getting beat up. Syd pulled out her weapon and looked back to see Gage do the same.

"It's another murder," she whispered. "Maybe we can catch them at it, finally."

Two blocks over they peered around another dark building into a narrow ally way and saw the entire Wolf Pack clad in black hoodies with the red wolf logo on the front, beating someone who lay prone on the ground.

"We've got em!" Syd called into her radio. "We're going in! Need backup, stat!"

"We're on it!" the same voice called into the radio.

Syd and Gage came out of the shadows, their hoods back, weapons raised.

"Texas Rangers! Put your hands up! You're under arrest!" Syd called out to the gang.

Everyone stopped, turned, and stared at the two Rangers before bursting into laughter.

"Is that all you got, girly? Man, that's pathetic! Go on Wolves, get em!" the obvious leader shouted to the rest of the gang.

Twenty gang members began the run towards the Rangers, each holding a weapon.

Syd began to get a little nervous, knowing they were outnumbered. "Where's our backup?" she asked the radio. "Backup would be nice right about now," she said, beginning to back up into Gage. "We can't do anything here. We're out numbered."

"I hear that," Gage replied, backing up with her.

"This is the Police! Put your weapons down and put your hands on top of your head!"

Black and Whites flooded the area and had the gang surrounded within seconds.

"Do it! Now!"

The Wolf Pack looked toward its leader who slowly nodded for them to comply.

"Don't think that this is over!" the leader shot towards Sydney. "We'll be back before you know it. And we'll take you down!"

"Ha, good luck on that one."

Each member was cuffed and hustled towards a cruiser. All that was left was the dead body of the man they'd beaten to death. Sydney and Gage stood over it and both agreed it was Jet Black, the man they'd come to find.

"Yup, that matches his mug shot in our files."

"I wonder what made them kill him. After all, he was their arms supplier."

"Musta been a pretty bad falling out."

"I'll say."

After letting the body go with the coroner, they turned to the remaining police officers.

"Alright, we're looking for information on Tang Swift. We know it's in Jet Black's office, but we don't know where that is. So, fan out, and search. Let us know if you come up with anything."

✢

Amigo paced the square box of his stall as if he were impatient to be somewhere. He'd been pacing all day and long into the night, staring angrily at the stall door that was locked from the outside so that he couldn't escape. CD had come to feed him his dinner, but he hadn't eaten it. Now, he stopped pacing and stared at the door with a new interest. He walked over to it and banged his hoof against it, waking Dallas next door. He banged it again, and again. Each time the wood loosened just a little bit.

Dallas poked her head out of her stall door and looked over at Amigo, wondering what was going on. But he didn't seem to notice, as he finally backed up all the way into the corner, got a short running start and banged his whole chest into the door. The wood splintered and the door broke open. He pranced out of the stall, a smug look on his face before galloping off into the night, without so much as a goodbye to Dallas.


	10. Chapter 10

Walker Texas Ranger: Letting Go: Chapter 10

A/N: Well, this is it! This is the final chapter of Letting Go. I sincerely hope you like it and I would love to know what you think! Thanks for reading this and sticking with it throughout the years! You guys are the best!

✢

Trivette still hung in the entryway of Tang Swift's barn and though he was starving and his mouth was parched, at least his headache was gone and he had his wits about him. Once night had fallen he'd looked around more carefully, trying to see what, if anything, was behind him. Nothing was except some fencing and a large white house, freshly painted by the looks of things. His bonds were his own handcuffs looped over a dowel stuck into the doorframe of the barn, similar to one in a closet.

He'd been thinking about his situation since Swift had left him alone and it reminded him of a movie he'd seen once. A kids movie. Something a friend had brought over when he'd promised to babysit her kids cause she couldn't find a sitter. It was something about a horse, he remembered that much. Spirit? Was that it's name? Something like that. But he remembered the wild horse being captured from the old west by humans, and because he was uncalmable he was tied outside for three days with no food or water. This was like that. Only, it was for one day. At least for now anyway. But this horse, Spirit? He'd had help escaping. Didn't he? Yes! A Lakota native had been captured as well and when his help arrived to help him escape, he set the horse free.

Right. Now where was Trivette's help? No one knew he was out here. And it wasn't like Amigo would be coming to rescue him. Most likely CD had shut him up in his stall. And a horse, rescuing him?!?! It would never happen. Besides, how embarrassing would that be when he got back to headquarters? A Texas Ranger saved by a horse. Though Amigo was his partner. He had to hope the horse would show up, if no one else did. He needed some sort of backup after all.

"_Have faith, in yourself," _he heard White Eagle's words to him before he'd left the reservation. _"For you can do anything you set your mind to. Trust in yourself and in your partner. Whether they be animal or human. Whether it be police work or romance. Trust in them and if you can come through for them, then they will come through for you."_

Trivette nodded to himself. This was a tight spot Walker had gotten into many times. And he'd always managed to get himself out. He knew he could do it. If Walker could do it, then he could do it. That's all there was to it.

His wrists hurt and he knew the cuffs had dug into his skin, making them bleed a little. He closed his eyes and did his best to ignore the pain as he jumped over to the edge of the doorway where the dowel rod met the frame. It was obvious the dowel had been put in place after the barn had been built, probably as a torture device. But this was good. It offered a way out.

With his feet hanging only three inches off the ground it was hard for Trivette to move the rod. He jumped into the air a few inches, grabbing a hold of the rod when the cuffs loosened around his wrists and pulled it from one end to the other. But it wasn't enough. He fell and the cuffs jerked his hands off the dowel, digging further into his wrists. He let out a low groan but did his best to stay quiet, not wanting anyone to hear his attempt to escape.

He jumped again, grabbed hold of the rod and held on, as if he was doing pull ups in gym class. Jerking his body to the side several times before his grip loosened, the rod came loose and fell to the ground, letting the cuffs slide off and Trivette's feet to touch the dirt below him. He stood there for a few minutes, letting his body relax, and feeling to return fully to his arms and hands.

Now his only question was how to get the cuffs off. But before he could come up with an answer he heard movement not too far away. He nearly fell, tripping into the barn, not having used his legs in so many hours. Hiding in the darkness he peered outside and saw a horse approaching. It was too dark to see the rider upon it's back, but it was a light colored horse he could tell by the moonlight that brightened it. He hoped no one would be missing him right about now.

The horse gave a low whinny and he looked out again. The horse was riderless! His eyes went wide before his body went into action, running out into the yard. Amigo had come to save him! He was going to catch hell at HQ when he got back. But right now, none of that mattered as he clambered onto the top railing of the fence and onto Amigo's back. The horse turned and quickly galloped away from Tang Swift's ranch.

Reinforcements, was all Trivette could think of. A way to get the cuffs off, a weapon, and more cops. If he could find Gage and Sydney...

✢

Gage and Sydney looked over the map one of the police officers had brought over. They had been standing in Jet Black's office for several minutes waiting for the map to arrive while they assessed the evidence before them. In their luck Jet Black had actually been stupid enough to keep records of arms deals he'd made between Tang Swift and the Wolf Pack. He even had the address of the elusive crime boss. And now that they were looking at the map of his ranch and surrounding areas they wondered how they were going to get there.

"Horses," Gage commented. "We're gonna need horses, I think. Only way to get out there safely, and easily. I mean, there's no access roads or anything. No driveway. Nothing."

"You're right," Syd agreed. "Call it in for me and I'll finish up here?"

"Sure thing."

Not half an hour later they met another Ranger out at Walker's ranch with a horse van and two saddled horses ready to get down to police business.

"Thanks Roger. Will you stick around till we get back?"

The Ranger nodded as CD came out of the house after hearing all the commotion.

"What in tarnation's going on out here?!"

Sydney explained all they knew as she and Gage mounted their horses. "We found Tang Swift's ranch, CD. And the easiest way to get to it is through Trivette's."

"Maybe...maybe that's how...the horse...Jimmy...he might have...might have taken him! Hold on, I'll go with you!"

"No, you stay here with Roger. We'll radio you if we need backup," Syd said, looking back at the other Ranger. "We've got it covered CD. Don't worry."

Without further ado, Sydney and Gage galloped away towards Swift's ranch, having already memorized the map.

When they reached the gate at the end of the property, Gage dismounted to open it for them. On the other side they found Trivette just arriving on Amigo. Both stared at him in shock for several seconds.

"Ah, finally, the cavalry has arrived," the Ranger joked, as a smile spread across his sweaty face. "I thought I'd never see you guys again!"

"What happened?" Syd asked.

"Got slugged by Swift's guys. His ranch is thataway," he jerked his head back the way he had come. "Got caught, just managed to escape. Hey, either of you got handcuff keys on you?" he held up his wrists. "I could really use them about now."

"Yeah, I do," Syd pulled them out of her pocket and sidled her horse up to Amigo to help him get his cuffs off while Gage remounted.

They began a slow walk towards Tang Swift's place to cool the horses a bit.

"They're all still asleep last I was there. So I think we can take them all down now pretty easily. Did you find anything out about Jet Black or anything else we can use against this guy?"

"Sure did," Gage piped up. "Jet Black was one hell of a stupid guy. He kept records of everything. That's how we found Swift's ranch."

"Oh, perfect."

Finding the clearing where Swift's ranch was located, Trivette could see that every horse in the barn had been saddled and had a rider. The large black horse had been lead out and Tang Swift was mounting him.

"Um...Roger? We're gonna need backup," Gage said into his radio.

"Guess they decided to wake up extra early."

Sydney looked over at Trivette, "How're we gonna take them down? Backup won't get here in time, they outnumber us, and they're on the move, probably to go out looking for you."

Trivette thought fast. Syd did have a point. Swift was giving his men a talk, but that didn't mean they had a lot of time to come up with a plan.

He turned to the other two, "You two ever participated in a roundup before?"

"Yeah, once or twice," Gage said.

Syd nodded.

"Good. Backup will be coming this way. These guys will bottle neck here, where backup can get them easily."

"Got it," Syd picked up her radio and alerted Roger.

"Here," Gage pulled out two handguns and handed one to Trivette. "Take my spare."

"Thanks."

Looking up they could see that the talk from Swift was over as the horses began to move away with all the browns ahead of the black. Tang Swift was protecting himself with his men.

"I got Swift. You get the others," Trivette called back as he headed off on Amigo.

"Sure thing."

Gage and Sydney guided their horses to the edges of the path and began a fast gallop forward toward the gang headed right for them. The two Rangers shot off a few rounds. The men on the brown horses ducked, letting Trivette slip beside them and behind them. Syd and Gage slipped to either side of the group while they were still ducking from their previously fired shots and began herding them back towards Walker's ranch.

Trivette, having slipped past the other riders unnoticed, aimed his weapon at Tang Swift and called him away from the others.

"Swift! You're under arrest!"

Swift turned his horse toward Trivette and Amigo.

"What?" the man laughed. "You think I'm just gonna lay down my arms, call my men back and go with you quietly?"

"Hey, it was worth a try," Trivette said with a grin on his face. "Ah, Walker, I finally get to take on the main bad guy myself," he spoke under his breath. "And I feel good. This day will be a good one!"

As Gage and Sydney rounded up the other guys and began bottlenecking them for the backup to arrest, Trivette and Tang Swift squared off and prepared to fight. Holding his weapon still aimed at Swift, Trivette fainted to the right. Swift moved his horse to the left and Trivette fired, the bullet flying not three inches away from the horse's head. He reared, throwing Swift from his back.

The crime boss was up on his feet within a few seconds as Trivette dismounted from Amigo, patting the pale spotted horse on the shoulder. He approached the boss who was preparing for a fight, crouching down, knees bent, weapon raised. Trivette circled him, also crouched low, knees bent, and weapon raised. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Syd and Gage working magic on the others, corralling them expertly into the waiting hands of the backup that had finally arrived. He faced his adversary full on and prepared to fight him into submission. Keeping his eyes on Swift to anticipate his every move, he realized Swift was doing the same to him.

Before either of them knew what had happened Amigo appeared beside Swift, rearing and coming down on him, knocking him off his feet. His gun slid a few feet away, giving the Ranger the upper hand and now the only one carrying a weapon. The horse snorted, and backed away, looking at Trivette to do something. He holstered his gun and went to Swift who was struggling to get up.

"Ha. Got ya now, Tang Swift. Didn't I tell you you were under arrest?"

The man accepted a hand as Trivette pulled him to his feet before suddenly turning to face the Ranger with a swift punch to the stomach. Jimmy, doubling over, didn't grab his stomach, but rather reached up and grabbed his shoulders, yanking him down into his knee. He let the man go and he fell to the ground, grabbing the Ranger's legs and pulling them out from under him.

Trivette acted quickly, remembering one of Walker's favorite moves. He swung around, grabbing Swift's arm between his legs crossing them over his chest. The man made some form of a garbled sound in his throat before Syd and Gage appeared at Trivette's side, ready to take him into custody.

"You alright man?" Gage asked, giving Trivette a hand up.

"Yeah, I'm great!"

Syd had Tang Swift in cuffs as she and Gage walked him over to the backup units a hand on each arm.

Amigo walked over to Trivette and nudged his shoulder. Trivette put his arms around the horse and gave him a long hug.

"Thanks, Amigo. We got him." He let go and looked up at the sky. "We got him, Partner. He'll be going away for life if I have anything to say about it."

A short distance away, amongst the trees a hazy form appeared, unbeknownst to cops, criminals, or horses milling around. The figure wore a black cowboy hat, a blue button down shirt, dark jeans and black cowboy boots. On his shirt was a Texas Ranger badge.

Another hazy form appeared beside him, taking his hand in hers. She had short curly blond hair and was wearing a black suit as if she was headed to court. On her left ring finger sat a beautiful diamond ring given to her the moment before she'd died. She smiled in Trivette's direction as the Ranger mounted a saddleless Amigo and followed everyone back to his ranch.

"Nice job, Partner," the first form said, Ranger James Trivette riding away completely unaware.


End file.
